This video came across my Facebook feed the other day and I simply fell in love with it. First off I’ll admit I have a soft spot for sweet animal videos but this one really got me. So I contacted the young woman to see if it was on youtube and if so may I use it. Hence it was uploaded and here is a horse who’s name is Magic… Really, I love it! This lovely horse was frightened of the water until his amazingly young rider helped him to move past the fear (who’s the life coach here? 🙂 ) And not only did he move past it it but it became pure joy, for both horse and rider.

Which got me to thinking about how one can move past a fear and not only turn it into joy but create joy for someone else as well. And the answer is perception. How are you viewing the fearful situation? If you change the way you view it it just might surprise you. It will change. A question I ask myself when confronted with a situation or something I’d rather not have in my life I ask myself, “What can I learn right now?” or “Where do I want to go from here” There is always something to learn in any given situation. And then I ask how I can shift my energy and for me I find 10 things I’m grateful for. Which immediately brings me into the moment and straight into Gratitude.

What a perfect time to talk about gratitude! Thanksgiving is tomorrow in the States and it’s a wonderful opportunity to look at all that is abundant and wonderful in our life. Wishing you a joyful grateful Thanksgiving! What a spectacular way to move into joy and shift from… well, just about anything!

It was brought to my attention the other day that I say, “This makes me happy!” quite a bit and subsequently I’ve become aware of just how much I say it! So I thought that I would keep track of all the things that I say that make me happy . ‘Cuz boy am I one happy girl with all this joy! Just yesterday I said these things make me happy:

Yummy fresh ripe avocados

Food that doesn’t have any gluten, dairy or soy

Highland Cows (a.k.a. my little redheaded cows)

Eating ice cream in the movie theater

The smell of hand soap on my hands

Finding a $20 little leather jacket at a junk shop

I can’t remember the rest but I know that there was more! And already this morning it was a clean kitchen to walk into to make my coffee. You’ll find that a lot of “clean” options will be on my list.

You ask what ‘s the point of all this? Well, good question! As I regularly say, “That which you focus on you have more of. So why not focus on the good, joyful, happy thoughts?!!” We chose our thoughts so why not focus on the happy ones! This will be a weekly post and I am charging you and myself to keep track of all the things that make you happy!

I wrote the following except during the summer but never posted it. On the first day of Autumn when the world (or at least my part of the world) begins to forage for the coming months and things begin to slow down I cherish the warmth of summer. How do you enjoy the seasons and time as the weather changes…. What does it mean to you?

“Every now and then I have a day that is simply divine and I do mean divine. You know the kind of day that takes your breath away. I have spent the last 48 hours sitting in the sun, swimming, eating amazing food, playing with my boyfriends daughter (a gift in and of itself), driving gorgeous roads and playing with my boyfriend too. The sound track was also just as spectacular: birds, frogs, roosters, frogs jumping in the pool, woodpeckers, birds flying by to take a dip in the pool, bumble-bees and dragon flies. Did I mention frogs? All of this was a visual feast as well… I have 2 words for you: Humming birds!

All this said it comes down to that I’m so thankful for such an absolutely amazing couple of days that were shared with me.”

My summer was spectacular so I’m looking forward to what life will bring in the coming months!

It seems that there’s a new show out that’s a spin-off of “Toddlers and Tiara’s” named “Honey Boo Boo” named for the child in it. I have to say from the get go that I have never watched them. Show’s like “Jersey Shore” (I’ve also never seen) and these I believe are simply showing the country at its worst. I don’t disagree that there are people out there like this but why do we have to glorify it? Watching these shows to me seems like deer caught in the head lights who can’t turn away… but we have choice the one consistent topic I have. We can watch something else or simply turn off the television. What about reading a book? I even had “Honey Boo Boo and Reality Television” as the title but changed it because I didn’t want to add to its internet presence. The most unhealthy thing about this is that there are people who watch it and chose to emulate it. So tell me why are these shows even out there? I know that they started years ago when there was a writer’s strike and the time needed to be filled and they chose “Big Brother” to launch it all but the shows with these young children is sheer child abuse and bullying as we laugh at it. Where are the children being protected?

I don’t tend to use my blog for this kind of discussion around harm but the energy that this kind of television creates is terribly unhealthy. Why would we watch it when there is so much else out there that is healthy and beautiful. That which we focus on is magnified… So why not chose to focus on something that is Joyful and loving… So next time you turn on the T.V. ask yourself: How loving is this? How educational is this? Am I receiving joy? Better yet How loving and I being?

Like this:

Spring has been an early visitor this year and it gave us all a renewed sense of possibility after the winter. (which was really quite mild actually but still grey) It was warm and inviting and a breath of fresh air! But just as soon as it arrived it departed. So this got me thinking, which in and of itself it not rare at all… When have you been working towards a goal and seen the competition in sight only to have it waylaid? When this happens what do you do? Work harder all the while allowing the delay to be what it is? Get frustrated and start to struggle?

How can you find the opportunity in the delay? Take your time life is not a race. Find the joy in the delay all the while working harder towards reaching your goal.

When children are little what is one of the first question they are asked?……..”What do you want to be when you grow up?” And I have to confess that I as a coach asked my clients the same question because it tells us an inner passion that may have not been fulfilled and can be explored.

But what I am more interested in is the question, “How do you want to be when you grow up?” If you were to ask a child or for that fact even an adult “How do you what to be when you grow up?” I doubt they would say overstressed, over worked, cranky, uncommunicative, depressed… you get the idea. They would say Joyful, happy, playful, carefree and Loving. Now doesn’t that sound just beautiful! I feel even light simply typing those words….. What would happen if we followed “How do you want to be when you grow up?” verses “What do you want to be when you grow up?” How do you think it wold affect your quality of life? Your interaction with people let alone your self? How magnificent would it be to follow are how which would envelope are what so that everything that we did was led by Joyousness, Playfulness and Love….

Like this:

I am going to start a weekly posting called “The Who of You”. Of course there will be the other regular musings to read but this one is special. I have had very unique thought about love for a while…. There are a lot of books out in the world the talk about the “What’s” and the “How’s” of being in the dating and love world. It all seems to focus on the exterior. The hugely successful books “He’s just not that into you” or “The Rules” never focus on the who…. Like, hey do you even like him? How do you feel about you? What makes you sing? What are your joys?…. The inside of you. Who truly are you in this world?

We live in a world that lives on an IV drip of real-time information and we don’t stop to see and listen to our own inner voice to hear who we are. So it is all about what we are, our job, our home, our car and what we can provide. What’s the first thing you ask when meeting someone at a party… it’s usually What do you do for a living? That’s the What of a person..How about What’s the last book you read or What did you want to be when you grew up. Stop for a minute and think about our society and how it supports the what of us and not the who. So how can we be expected to enter a relationship that is supported by the who. We have lived this way for centuries so how can be begin to shift this thought process?